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Tim Pawlenty Part II: The Presidential Announcement

Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty is in. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is out. The latest Pawlenty video is a lot less ominous than his previous one, but a better video won’t win him the White House. Another announcement, yet the race for President on the GOP side is still a muddled.

Pawlenty’s message is “boldness” rather than “vanilla,” but there’s still the question of whether voters will be energized by him or his message. His hometown paper but his candidacy announcement on the obit page, which doesn’t well. (The deadly tornadoes took the front page.) He made the rounds of the morning news programs for a more lively reception.

Gov. Daniels’ supporters are now undecided. Newt Gingrich is still smarting from his Meet the Press appearance last week where he criticized Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) Medicare proposal. Mitt Romney is struggling just to show he’s “authentic.” We’re still getting to know former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain (although he’s already made some, shall we say, notable statements). We still don’t know whether Sarah Palin will run. And there are probably four or five other names I’m forgetting.

From a public affairs standpoint, is there a message or campaign path that can clear up some of this GOP mess? The comments section is open.